Xela

I am living with a family here in Xela, as a part of this whole Spanish immersion experience. The mom, Pilar, is my age, as is the dad, Jose, and there are two kids. Fatima is two and Diego is five. I adore them. Fatima and Diego are kind of polar opposites. Despite being two, Fatima cannot walk or speak. She had a brain tumor when she was younger and is a bit developmentally delayed. She is also so tiny, and I am serious when I say she probably is no more than 20 pounds. But she does understand when you ask her some questions as she nods her head or raises her eyebrows in response. So precious.

Diego is the smartest five year-old I have ever come across and pretty much my new best friend. He is in the second grade and is already completely literate. I am pretty sure he could count to infinity if I asked him to and I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knew long division. But he is still a five year old and loves to run (and I mean literally run) around the house and bother his sister. One of Diego and my favorite games is Pictionary. He has this little magna-doodle and we take turns drawing things on it. Normally, he is spot on with his pictures. But occasionally, he does things like this:

and I have to ask him to explain. This was a word I didn’t know in Spanish, so I looked it up, and from what he told me, it was “revolt”. Now, I’m not sure that is actually what he meant, as that seems too abstract and complex even for his brain. But he is great cause he is patient with my spanish and if I say something wrong, he corrects me.

I spent yesterday afternoon volunteering at a high school teaching English. It was actually a lot less scary than I expected. My lesson was to teach the English words for fruits and vegetables and I feel like it went well. I’m not even lying when I say that I enjoyed it and there is even a chance I might do it again. And, as it turned out, I taught pretty much the whole class in Spanish (except for the English vocab, of course) without even thinking about it. So yeah, that was surprising. And even more surprising is the fact that the kids understood me. One of the other classes had presentations today, so there were a bunch of 14 year-olds running around in suits which is just kind of hilarious to begin with. But then I saw this:

Yes, that is an explanation of how to launder money.

Apparently, the rainy season is about four months early this year as it is pouring right now, complete with thunder, and I got caught in a downpour on the way to the high school today. It was one of those rainstorms in which any effort at protection is futile. Yes, I had a jacket, and yes, I also had an umbrella, however, I was drenched from head to foot when I arrived at the school. I’m freezing cold, still, and I would love nothing more than a hot shower but, that isn’t really an option here. All the shower heads are electric and they heat the water as it comes out (I should take a photo of this too), however the water never really gets hot. Maybe it is lukewarm-- at best--and on a cold, rainy night, that just isn’t good enough. So, I am thinking about just wearing a blanket the rest of the evening. And shaving my head so I don’t have to deal with wet or dirty hair anymore.

After teaching English this afternoon, I went to a Pupusa making class. It was good. Pupusasa are fat tortilla-type things that usually contain a cheese or bean or meat filling. I can make them the Guatemalan way now, but I have to say, Las Pupusas Salvadoreñas (from El Salvador) are a lot better, and that is what I really need to learn how to create. Especially now that I know I am moving to Europe in the fall and I am sure that any type of Mexican/Latin American food is going to be impossible to come by anywhere outside of my kitchen.

Here are some photos from around Xela.

Volcano Santa Maria, I am thinking about doing a full moon hike up this.

The market, check out the size of those carrots! I kinda want to, when I come back to Xela in two weeks, not live with a family so I can go to this market and buy food and cook every day. But then again, I do love this family I am with, so maybe I will ask to be back with them.

But I have to say, they just don’t feed me enough. I eat what they eat, when they eat, and in the proportions they eat, but it feels like it is about half as much as I actually need. Wow. I’ve never been so hungry for so long, ever. I swear I don’t eat that much food in general, but I feel like a giant pig here. Maybe I just need twice as much food because, in general I am twice as big as all the people who are native to this area.

I should remind you all again, that I am a giant here as the average height of the men is at least 6 inches shorter than me and the women are at least 10 inches smaller (if not a foot or more). There was a woman today who serious only came up to the bottom of my rib cage. Man those Mayan descendants are pequeñisimos. In that respect I am really looking forward to Holland where I will finally be able to live a life in which I am an average height.

As for Xela, I do like it here. It is a gritty city, though it feels like a town in Europe (though in a very thrid world way). And in fact right now I am sitting in this cozy little cafe that you'd expect to see in Spain, not Guatemala. Granted, it is full of gringos and not really a local hang out, but hey, it has free internet, mojitos, and nachos, which is really all I need. Its hard to believe Xela is the second largest city in the country because the streets are small and winding, made of cobble stones, and rarely two lanes. The last few mornings on my way to school (classes start at 8am, which is killing me as i have a half hour walk to get there) I was sincerely reminded of Tibet just because of the smell. Turns out it is the smoke from the wood fired cookstoves that the folks who live on the outskirts of town use to prepare their meals.